Page 25 of Insolence
“Let’s try this again.” She’s been watching me wrestle myself for gods know how long. “Are youcertainyou don’t know what I’m getting at with all of this?”
I’m beside myself. Something inside of me fractures, breaking open like an egg. “You’re not talking about Bibi anymore,” I whisper while a mixture of titillation and begrudging respect oozes through me.
“No. I’m not talking about Bibi anymore.” Her tawny eyes are ringed with emerald in the deepening shadows. “What am I talking about, Tiss?”
“You’re talking about me.”
“Whatabout you?”
I hold still, not tearing my gaze away. “How I was acting.”
“Mm. And how were you acting?”
“Like abrat,” I croak.
“Yes, you were. What else?”
My eyes slide shut. I’m trembling from cold or nerves—I can’t distinguish between the two. Her fingers clamped around mywrists might as well be steel rods. “I shouldn’t have dropped the book.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. It was disrespectful toward me, as well as the book. Now. Will you please tell me why you got so angry in there? Because I know there was more to it than my trying to help.”
Gods. I squirm in her grip, unsurprised that she won’t let me off even a little bit easy. Heat pricks my cheeks while I work up to it. “I got jealous of your attention. Resented that it might be focused on someone else. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you for your honesty. And it’s understandable.” Her tone is far more gentle than I deserve, and I love her for it, just a little bit. “Jealousy is a natural expression of desire. But you need to understand the difference between experiencing your feelings and acting on them. You have no right to poke me and manipulate my reactions whenyou’refeeling needy or insecure. Not without my say-so. And not without agreed-upon boundaries.”
I am instantlyravenousto know more about these “boundaries” but think better of asking. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
Finally satisfied, she backs her weight off. I watch while she lowers my arms from the wall, bringing my hands to her mouth.
Eyes anchored to mine, she places my frozen, wooden fingers against her lips and breathes out. The warmth of her flesh against my fingertips, combined with her hot breath, penetrates to my marrow.
“Is it all right to do this?”
I nod, melting and breathless. She lowers my hands, her grip still firm around them as she rubs circulation back into my fingers.
Her gaze roves over me as if appraising my design. “Truth be told, I’ve been enamored of you from the first moment I saw you,Tiss. No matter what I do, I can’t get you out of my head. Can’t stay mad at you, or even annoyed. And that’s a serious problem.You’rea serious problem.” The way she says it is almost adoring.
That pretty pinch creases between her eyebrows, all the yearning that’s been bunching up between us pouring out through her gaze. Her scent curls around me, addling my brain. Amber and cedar, sweet and aromatic. Like medicine, like balm.
Elodie is simultaneously a sickness and its cure.
“I couldn’t help but notice you got a bit…excitedbefore. When I was praising Bibi.”
“Oh, gods.”
“Is that something you’d like? To be told when you’re being a good girl yourself?” Her voice goes low and silky smooth. “Like right now.”
Oh, shit, yes.I sag at the knees. “I think so.” I sway slightly, every part of me tingling.
The edges of her nostrils twitching again, she releases my hands to cradle the sides of my face. Leaning slowly forward, she presses her sculpted lips against mine and whispers tenderly, delicately, “Good girl, Tiss.”
I feel my own low moan rather than hear it.
Twining her arms around my waist beneath my cloak, Elodie pulls me close. The crush of her warm curves spikes my quickening blood.Our first kiss on her settee was tentative and over far too soon. This one is anything but; her mouth seizing mine now is bold and hungry and urgent.
I feel trulyawakefor the first time since I woke up here.
The second her soft tongue glides over mine, the thread between us erupts in a conflagration. Overwhelmed, I cling to her, moaning and desperate.
